Chapter 30: Chapter 30: The Hand Mirror

“It’s fine.”

The infirmary was probably locked anyway. Though I hadn’t managed to see the last message that popped up when we cleared the second boss fight during the drinking session, I’d clearly seen the notification that the infirmary would unlock.

But Seo Yi-han insisted with a rather stubborn attitude that I had to take medicine and go check the infirmary. In response, I deliberately raised my voice.

“I said I’m fine. We don’t even know if the infirmary is open, so there’s no time to waste on a wild goose chase. It’d be better to take care of that playground ghost first. Besides, we need to properly treat Yoon Soo-ah’s fingernails…”

“Lee Jae-yoon, I’m touched.”

Yoon Soo-ah, who had wrapped a cheap bandage from the convenience store around her finger, patted my back heavily. She was the kind of intense person who expressed friendliness, emotion, and worry all by slapping someone’s back.

For some reason, Seo Yi-han wore a sullen expression as he pulled Yoon Soo-ah’s arm away and stood up without a word. Seeing Yi-han about to leave alone, Kim Ji-ho and Han Bo-bae hastily got up, so I followed suit.

Seo Yi-han remained silent for a while. But as Yoon Soo-ah approached him, rubbing her head, and whispered something, he returned to his usual self.

Not knowing the reason, I could only blankly stare at the two of them.

***

Thanks to buying a plastic umbrella each from the convenience store, the waterproof cloth was discarded. For the record, Han Bo-bae was diligently noting down the umbrella and food costs.

It seemed her promise to repay double once we got out wasn’t empty.

In the process of picking up the umbrellas, Seo Yi-han argued with a strange logic that taking five umbrellas without paying was a nuisance, suggesting we should share two per person.

But Yoon Soo-ah countered, “Then you use one alone, and Kim Ji-ho and Lee Jae-yoon can share,” instantly shutting him down. Because Seo Yi-han, Kim Ji-ho, and I all shuddered at that idea.

On the way, the kids were extremely curious about curses, so I rambled on about what I knew.

“There are various methods of cursing. Some even involve shooting flesh. You know what flesh is, right?”

“If you get hit by flesh, do you just collapse and die?”

“It depends on the situation.”

“Either way, it’s amazing that an intangible force can threaten your life. Wow, fascinating.”

“As I said before, cases where it takes a life instantly are rare. Though you could die after languishing from the torment.”

Most people used it hoping for such effects. That was also its limitation. In that sense, the shaman who directly ordered a demon to kill, and the human who commissioned it, were both no ordinary folks.

As we reached the bench, we saw a woman staring blankly at us from the middle of the playground. The moment I saw her, the atmosphere turned cold.

Still, it seemed that creature, true to its title of a grounded spirit, couldn’t leave its designated area at all. If it could, it would have surely rushed over here and tried to possess someone again.

“Let’s search every nook and cranny around here.”

“But it’s been twenty years… Do you think any traces remain?”

Normally, they wouldn’t. But this was a game, and given the nature of needing to find clues to clear it, there was bound to be something left behind. The system had also hinted to explore this area.

Moreover, the way the kids had been raising one question after another seemed like the recognition blur effect the system had placed was wearing off. It wasn’t like it was giving with one hand and taking away with the other just because it gave a hint.

I drilled the most important point into the kids anew.

“In a situation where light rises from the ground, the deceased’s memories appear, and time stops, what’s the point of being realistic? If you’re really bothered, just think of it as a fantasy game and look.”

Everyone quickly accepted and began searching under the chairs.

Since the grounded spirit kept other ghosts away, and it couldn’t leave the playground boundary, we freely turned on our flashlights and searched.

The first to find something was Han Bo-bae. She noticed something reflecting the light, sparkling on the ground.

At first, she grunted, trying to lift a paving block, so I wondered what it was. But soon, seeing light leaking from a crack in the bricks, I, Seo Yi-han, and Kim Ji-ho frantically pried the bricks apart with our hands.

Dirt got under my nails, making me feel indescribably dirty. Still, when we lifted that brick, a sharp piece of glass was embedded in the dirt floor.

With that discovery, we eagerly lifted the surrounding bricks. Once we lifted one brick, the rest were easy. Just by putting a foot in the empty space and prying, the bricks flipped over.

After finding a total of eight sharp glass fragments and the colorful thread from the end of a hand mirror’s handle in the dirt under the bricks, a system window appeared.

[Quest Complete! Replaying the deceased’s memories.]

With that alarm, light burst from the scattered glass fragments.

The general outline was the same. The reason she visited the school, the cozy family photo with the chairman couple, etc. Additionally, the part where the woman was chased and held her breath in the school was depicted in detail.

***

After picking up documents from the chairman’s office, the woman began to sense a presence. But every time she turned around, there was no one.

The lights in the corridor, which had been fine, flickered. The lamp she absentmindedly looked up at went out completely with the sound of a fuse burning.

The corridor she had passed through instantly turned pitch black. Clutching the document envelope, the woman sobbed and took a step.

Before turning the last corner, she looked back. In the middle of the pitch-black corridor stood a bizarre figure whose height reached the ceiling.

Seeing it, the woman ran like crazy.

But no matter how fast she ran, the sound of footsteps following her remained constant, never fading. She ran forgetting to breathe, but the more she did, the faster it caught up. It maintained a distance where, if it wanted, it could grab her by the scruff of her neck at any moment.

She desperately ran outside where there were streetlights, but she became even more frightened.

Naturally, because only her own shadow stretched long under her feet. She was sure, in her perception, that it was also right next to her. And given its towering height, its shadow should have been twice as long as hers.

The woman was certain that what chased her was not human. And as soon as she was certain, it began to speak, trying to coax her. It was a terrible metallic sound. As if its vocal cords had been ground with sandpaper.

“My child, my child, mirror, mirror, mirror.”

From behind the woman, a long arm reached out, palm up, and waved its hand softly.

The palm had no lifelines, no fingerprints. It was deliberately taunting her, even though it could grab her by simply extending its arm.

Too terrified, she couldn’t even scream or sob. The woman threw off her obstructive shoes and fled barefoot.

Then, it picked up her shoes. The woman used that gap to dart away. It laughed languidly while holding her shoes, juggling them, tossing and catching, giggling.

It just stood there laughing with a grotesque appearance, and the woman thought it had stopped chasing.

Just then, she spotted a pavilion-like area with benches. Without hesitation, she crawled under a chair and held her breath. The closely packed chairs hid her curled-up form.

Since the thing chasing her had stopped, she thought that hiding her body would make it back off. Wiping away her flowing tears, she curled up.

Come to think of it, it had been going on about a mirror.

Carefully, the woman took a hand mirror adorned with mother-of-pearl from her handbag. Even in this situation, the mirror was beautiful, strange, and had a mesmerizing quality.

She stopped crying and stared at it as if spellbound.

‘She’s completely bewitched.’

Even if she realized it was a curse and sought out a powerful shaman, it would have been hard to save her. The woman was so pitiful that I instinctively clicked my tongue. To think a demon that enjoyed tormenting people like that was sealed in a mirror.

Then it happened.

“Tsk.”

With the sound of a tongue clicking against a cheek, something dropped behind the woman with a clatter. It was the shoes she had thrown off earlier.

At the same time, the mirror she had been staring at like a fool shattered into pieces.

“Hide-and-seek is over.”

Then, one of the shattered glass fragments moved on its own, and the woman collapsed on the spot.

***

It was more vicious than I thought.

Compared to the time I saw the memory of the demon or the grounded spirit, this was incomparably gruesome and terrifying. Moreover, I don’t know if it was just me, but just like when I was possessed, the woman’s emotions were transmitted to me intact.

As if it had happened to me. My heart pounded violently, and I gasped for breath.

“Haa…”

I inhaled deeply several times to catch my breath. Glancing around, everyone looked pale but weren’t panting.

Instead, Seo Yi-han, as if to help me regulate my breathing, began patting my back in a steady rhythm. Too busy breathing, I couldn’t resist and accepted his touch.

‘Damn, this must be because I was possessed once earlier.’

In the memory I saw when possessed, I had shared the woman’s perspective. The aftermath seemed to make me more attuned to her emotions.

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